What If
by DetectiveBeckett
Summary: Kate gets a surprise visit from Castle. It ends up being more of a surprise than she originally thought.


The sounds of New York City life could be heard as Kate Beckett sat in her living room. Talking, sirens, construction, traffic, the works. That was a constant in a New Yorker's life. At times she couldn't tell if she liked the noise better than silence. Although it's been so long since she's been in the presence of true silence and serenity. Life got in the way of all of that and life was extremely hectic.

With a sigh, she laid back on the couch of her dim lit apartment. The worst part about leaving work was simply not working. Her work was her life and this apartment was a place used to pass time until she was expected back to solving murders. The precinct felt like more of a home than the place she paid to reserve her residence. Sometimes she thought she was crazy for feeling that way, but was it really so bad? She was dedicated to her work and the people she spent her day with. But she wasn't at work and she had a couple hours until she was due to be there. So what to do?

"One… two… three… four…"

She counted out loud as she stared up at the ceiling.

"Five… six… seven… eight…"

Bubbles in the paint. That was the best she could do.

Rolling over, she grabbed the remote which was on the coffee table just in her reach. She turned on the television and started to flip through the channels. Nothing caught her interest. Finally, she stopped at the news.

A story was running about a sex offender, which she hardly paid attention to. Her mind was wrapped around something elsewhere.

Her phone went off, managing to get her mess of a mind off of the current dilemma for a moment. But only for a moment, of course. When she picked up her phone, she saw Richard Castle's name flashing on the screen.

"Castle?" she was confused since she was just with him not even an hour earlier.

"Beckett."

"Castle," she said his name firmly, nonverbally implying for him to tell her why he called.

"Beckett," obviously he wasn't catching on.

"What's going on?" she finally asked, knowing they could go back and forth for a while with each other's names. She didn't have the attention span for this, although Richard did.

"Just thought you'd like to hear my voice."

She could picture the smirk on his face. Better yet, she caught herself mid smile and stopped herself immediately.

"Actually I was just wondering if you were doing anything," he continued. "Alexis is out and my mom is pretty cool and all, but she's my mom. You can only take so much of that."

She sat with her legs up, hugging her knees to her chest. "Are you really that bored?" she teased. "I wish you could have told me this before I changed into the bum apparel."

"You look fine."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I'm watching you through your window."

She didn't even bother to look over to see if that was true. "Oh yeah? What am I wearing?"

"Unfortunately," he sighed. "Clothes."

Kate wanted to laugh, but she held back. "Obviously you're not at my window or else you'd know that I'm wearing nothing," her tone was dry. She was able to convince anyone of anything after years of working her job, although Castle should be immune since they spend endless hours together.

She hardly had the time to draw in air after saying that before there was a loud, persistent knocking on the door. She got off of the couch and went straight for the door. As she opened it and saw an anxious Castle before her, she hung up her phone, raising a brow.

"Now this is why I have trust issues," he started as he shoved his phone in is pants pocket. "You can never believe anything you hear. 'I'm naked. Grope me'-"

"Really? I was begging for you to grope me?" she asked rhetorically.

"Well you didn't say it juts like that," he answered anyway. "But telling me you were naked happens to be the same thing. You lied though."

"Oh well you weren't exactly at my window."

"I was close enough. I was down the hall."

"And this is close enough. Under my clothes is my naked body."

"I really hate your reasoning."

"Yet you're at my door."

He sighed. "Damn it."

She stepped aside to let him in and watched as he walked passed her. He didn't say anything and even though. "How did you know I was going to be home? Weren't you being bold by just coming?" she teased. They both knew she didn't really go out much after work, but she had to say it anyway.

"I just thought I'd take my chances," he said ever so casually. "I would have waited if you weren't here."

"Would you really?" Kate had a feeling he did mean it. He sounded so serious which was a nice change from the constant jokes and sarcasm. Or maybe he was just being sarcastic and playing serious. They were both good for that.

He nodded his head as he stopped and stood in the living room, looking over at her with a soft, crooked smile. "I think you know me too well by now to even question that."

"Fair enough," she smiled.

"So this is what you look like when you're bumming it out?" he raised a brow as he his eyes traced every inch of her body. She chose not to let it make her feel awkward, though she couldn't think of anything to say in response, so he took it upon himself to break the short length silence. "If this is the bum look, I'd love to see you as a hot mess." He offered a playful wink.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh please," she crossed her arms against her chest and let released the air from her lungs, loud enough for him to hear. She knew he was kidding. Though at the same time, she knew he wasn't. Their relationship consisted of a lot of playful, harmless bantering. But that could only go on for long before Kate wondered if it meant something more. Children chose to tease the people they liked. Could that be the case?

"You're sort of beautiful."

Hearing it was so random. Her eyes met his and realized he was so calm; he had to be telling the truth. It was a word vomit moment, but it put a smile on her face.

"Sort of?" the brunette smirked as she sat on the couch, her eyes never leaving Richard's.

He sat down a couple feet away from her, but then scooted closer. And closer. And closer again. She looked over at him in time to see a smirk pull from the corners of his lips, raising an arm and putting it around her shoulder. "I might have lied. You're definitely beautiful. Very beautiful."

If she wasn't in such a good mood, she wouldn't let him get away with being so close and touching her. But he went out of his way to see her and that counted for something in her book, even though she wouldn't admit to that out loud. Plus if she stayed quiet, maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't move.

He nudged her a little as they sat there. "What's going on in there?" he asked, kissing the top of her head playfully. "Kate?"

She leaned her weight against his, knowing this was unlike her. They were about as close as she'd allow herself to get with someone else, but she usually had clear boundaries. Right now she was letting go. Her walls were down. She liked the feeling of someone's arms around her and the sweet smell of his skin.

"Kate?"

Without a word, she looked up at him and locked eyes with him for what felt like a lifetime as she tried to convince herself to do what she was feeling.

"Kate?"

She couldn't say anything. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Another attempt, another fail. Instead of trying a third time, she leaned in slowly. She closed her eyes and her lips were barely touching his when she heard his voice again.

"Kate?"

"No…" she whispered and leaned back in, but their lips just didn't seem to meet.

"No? Okay I'll drink both."

That was not what she was expecting to hear. "Wait, you'll what?" Opening her eyes, she felt her cheeks turn red in a hot second.

Rick was standing a couple feet away from her; two cups of coffee occupied his hands. She looked around and realized she wasn't in her apartment, but in the precinct.

"You do realize you're blushing, right?" Richard asked in a very serious tone, which made her cheeks even hotter. If it were possible, her skin would probably match that of a ripe tomato. How cute.

"Thanks for that Castle, I had no idea," she grabbed her coffee and turned her back to him, walking toward the elevator. She had no idea where she was going and when she heard footsteps behind her and realized Richard was following her, she knew she'd have to make something up.

Day dreaming on the job. Awesome. What a beautiful start to the day.


End file.
